After the firing squads of the Russian Revolution  murdered Czar Nicholas II, Czarina Alexandra, and almost every other member of the Romanov family, there appeared in a small coastal village of western France a grand duke and duchess who proclaimed themselves to be the new monarchs of Russia. The grand duchess was Victoria Melita, nicknamed Ducky. To begin with, she was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria as well as of Czar Alexander of Russia. Her sister was the remarkable Queen Marie of Romania, and her intricate family connections with the rulers of the world were almost unprecedented. The first cousin not only of King George V but also of Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nicholas, she had previously been married to Ernst Ludwig, grand duke of Hesse and the Rhine, but this relationship was destroyed by dark secrets, a betrayal that filled her with bitterness and shame. Then, in a scandal that shocked the royal world, she married Kirill, a cousin of the late czar of Russia. She had married and divorced one of her first cousins and then married another--her father's nephew, and then her mother's nephew. The family opposition was so great that Victoria Melita and Kirill were stripped of their wealth and their titles before being banished from Russia. When they were finally allowed to return, they tried in vain to bring democratic reforms to the dying, autocratic monarchy in a desperate effort to save it. Trapped, inevitably, by the revolution, they managed to make an incredible and perilous escape, which led to a long life in exile abroad as pretenders to the throne. Victoria Melita had never aspired to play the role of an empress without a throne. The shadowy life of a royal pretender was the last thing this strong and independent woman had ever wanted. However, her passionate nature had centered itself totally upon her adored second husband, and, now, as Kirill set up his imperial court in the French fishing village of St. Briac and assumed the title of emperor of Russia, Victoria Melita became his empress and for twelve years proudly worked by her husband's side for the restoration of the monarchy. And then, unexpectedly and brutally, her world collapsed again, and her inability to compromise almost brought her to ruin. A Fatal Passion is the story of great wealth and privilege when rival royal families vied for position and power even as they were about to lose almost everything in the First World War. Among the few who survived the painful times was Victoria Melita, one of the most beautiful and liberated women of her era. The book is set against the majestic canvas of Queen Victoria's far-flung empire, the intrigues of the royal courts of Europe, and the exotic splendor and fantastic events of imperial Russia as it balanced on the precipice of disaster. It culminates in the turbulent era of ruthless dictators and the advent of the Second World War. Through the use of private diaries and letters previously unpublished, as well as exclusive interviews with many of the surviving principals, Michael John Sullivan has revealed the heart and mind of a remarkable woman, who, for too long, has been largely overlooked by history. Princess Victoria Melita, granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria, is not nearly as well known as her flamboyant sister, Queen Marie of Romania, but she deserves to be. Ducky, as she was known to her family, was a beauty. Pressured as a teenager into a marriage (arranged by Queen Victoria) to her cousin Ernie, Prince of Coburg, the naive princess was for years unaware that her disinterested husband was homosexual. The princess caused a royal scandal when she divorced him and later married her cousin Grand Duke Kirill of Russia. Exile, the death of her daughter, intrigue, the Bolshevik takeover, and a desperate escape from the new Soviet state followed. Sullivan, a feature writer for Twin Circle magazine, has fashioned a fascinating and informative biography of an extraordinary woman. Strongly recommended for libraries with an interest in Russian history.?Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. An independent historian's highly romanticized tale of the daring, calculating grand duchess who was among the few Romanovs to survive the Russian Revolution. Fans of European royalty and their histories will relish the story of Victoria Melita (18761939), otherwise known by her nickname, Ducky. Granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and the Russian emperor Alexander II, Ducky embodied the end of an era and a way of life for Europe's intermarried royal families. Her first marriage, to Prince Ernest (``Ernie'') Ludwig of Heese and the Rhine, was something of a coup for its promoter, Queen Victoria. But it was a tragedy for Ducky. After several years, the source of the couple's incompatibility--Ernie's homosexuality--became known to Ducky. Acting with admirable pluck and characteristic self-assurance, she divorced him. She went on to establish an